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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22376761">In the Blood</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MediumSizedEvil/pseuds/MediumSizedEvil'>MediumSizedEvil</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Incredible Thoughts [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fatherhood, Future Fic, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 14:41:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>594</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22376761</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MediumSizedEvil/pseuds/MediumSizedEvil</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>A child bites an apple but the core is rotten</i>
</p><p>Jake's son turns seven, a momentous age.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Incredible Thoughts [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1591777</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Incredible Thoughts</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In the Blood</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>
  <br/>
</p><div class="center">
  <p>
    <i>How much like my father am I destined to become?</i>
  </p>
  <p>- <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob-jS7bqYgI">In the Blood</a>, John Mayer</p>
</div>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>What no one could have suspected, least of all Jake, was that his son would develop an unusual interest in tractors. Not books, like Amy had predicted, or guns, as he would have liked, marinated goat's eyes, as Charles had prophesied, Rihanna, of which Gina had been convinced, or even Gustav Mahler, the original punk rocker according to Raymond Holt. No, of all the things in the world, his son was obsessed with tractors. And so they had decided to celebrate his seventh birthday at the annual harvest festival on a large, kid-friendly farm. It had proven a huge success so far. He certainly was admiring Amy's shapely behind as she was standing on a ladder picking apples from a generously laden tree. </p><p>“Oy!” She threw one at his head, and he ducked to avoid the projectile. His little boy started laughing and ran after it. He picked up the apple from the grass and took a bite. Then he suddenly threw away the fruit and started crying.</p><p>Jake knelt down and wrapped his arms around him. “It's okay, buddy.”</p><p>He sniffed and wiped his snotty nose on his shoulder. Ah, the joys of fatherhood. He knew it was not so much that the apple was rotten that had upset him, but more the shock of finding out that something was so different from what he'd expected. One of the first of many disappointments life would throw at him, no doubt. And would one of them be him, he wondered, like his own father had been. Was he also rotten to the core, only covered with a thin veneer for show?</p><p>He remembered being so proud of his amazing father, who always looked so impeccably perfect in his uniform. The coolest dad in the whole school. The few times he'd come to pick him up he had jumped into his arms and made a big show of belonging to his hero, Captain Roger Peralta. Back then he'd also wanted to be a pilot of course. A fighter pilot even, after watching Top Gun. But he'd burned his model glider and threw his miniature 747 from the roof, and after seeing Die Hard for the first time instantly decided to become a cop instead. He'd desperately wanted John McClane to be his dad. But was he really so different from his father? Could he only pretend to burn those bridges, but never change who he was deep inside?</p><p>Jake shook his head. Hadn't he worked through all that stuff in therapy? He'd been convinced he would be a good father when he told Amy he was ready. And hadn't he proven himself these last few years? But this was the easy part, a nagging voice in his head would say. Just wait until he's seven. The age at which your father left you. When he got sick of you. When he couldn't stand you anymore. That's when you'll start hating your kid too, you'll see. Would it be more merciful to leave now, to spare him more heartache later? What is the right age to abandon your child?</p><p>He imagined leaving everything behind and running off to Canada - well, some place where they didn't speak French in any case. But he just couldn't do it. He couldn't even visualize it in his head, but instead found himself being drawn back, irrefutably, to his little family. Like a magnet to its pole. And that finally set his heart at ease.</p><p>He took a deep breath and grabbed his son's hand. “Come on, let's find another tractor!”</p>
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